Council recommendation on the Western Sahara

The Committee adopted Mr MENDILUCE's recommendation, (chairman of this committee) under the CFSP, on the Western Sahara. The committee recommends that the Council: -take note of Parliament's concern that the EU should firmly support the full application of the peace plan drawn up and adopted in UN Security Council resolutions 658 and 691, the agreements which have revived it and the holding of the planned referendum, the preparations for which should ensure conditions of equal opportunity for both sides and security for voters; -draw up a common position reaffirming the EU's full support for the peace plan and all its intermediary stages (identification of voters, quartering of troops, exchange of prisoners, release of political detainees and 'disappeared persons', repatriation of refugees, organization of the electoral campaign, etc.), as well as playing an active part in the holding of a free and transparent referendum on self-determination on the scheduled date; -provide the necessary humanitarian aid, both through the UN and its specialized agencies and through other organisations active in the region, so as to assist with the proper resettlement of the Saharan people in the disputed zone and, in general, to organize EU participation in the tasks of MINURSO (the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara) by providing funds, observers and, if necessary, personnel and equipment; -draw up a programme for future and ongoing cooperation with a view to the integrated and sustainable development of the Western Sahara. After their adoption by the Committee, recommendations drawn up under the CFSP are entered on the agenda for Parliament's next part-session. They are deemed to have been adopted unless at least one tenth of MEPs object, in which case they are put to the vote in plenary.�